Fellows on Transitions: The Value of Entrepreneurship Education
More than 600 students have come through STVP fellows programs in the past 25 years, going on to become founders, leaders, and part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps drive innovation today. Some of these fellows have come back to campus to share their learnings, how what they gained at Stanford helped them navigate the high-pressure, high-stakes world of startups. We revisit some of these conversations in two look-back episodes of ETL.
In 2016 VP and head of business AI at Meta and former Mayfield Fellow Clara Shih returned to Stanford and spoke frankly about burnout and mental health challenges in the startup world, which she “didn’t expect to be so lonely.” Shih talked about the all-consuming nature of starting a business – she spent 10 years as the founder of the software company Hearsay – and how she was able to cope.
“So much of being an entrepreneur and succeeding as a startup isn’t necessarily your product or your technology – it’s you, your stamina, your mental health… If your product isn’t right, if your technology isn’t right, you can still fix it. If you feel burned out and not supported, all bets are off.”
Clara Shih
Check out all of Clara’s talk, with insights on friendship, establishing a culture, deciding what not to do, and counterintuitive advice.
What comes next?
When Stanford students and STVP fellows graduate after exploring a range of interests and projects at STVP and the wider institution, how do their entrepreneurial skills show up in the world? STVP’s Tina Seelig talked with four of our past fellows about how they’ve applied their academic experiences to tackle some of the world’s most confounding challenges.
Hear what motivated these students to pursue startups in disease prevention, recycling carbon dioxide, and rooftop solar in developing countries.
“I was doing research here at Stanford and I wanted to see if it would work in the real world,” says Etosha Cave who went on to pioneer climate technology to recycle carbon dioxide with her startup Opus 12. Jonah Greenberger went to Chevron to understand how regulation works in the energy industry before leaving to start Bright, his rooftop solar project, five years later. For Elaine Cheung, she saw the opportunity to leverage new technologies to impact cancer patients’ lives for the better. And Cody Karutz created a virtual reality program that helps train athletes.
As STVP fellows transition to the real world they gain insights, apply learnings, and tap into a network that truly builds the field of entrepreneurship. Speaking of, stay tuned for the announcement of our next round of fellows in our Mayfield Fellows, Accel Leadership, and Threshold Venture Fellows programs, coming soon!
